South Dakota Is Home to Three of the Eight Youngest Counties in America

When you look at the median ages of where people live in the United States there are some pretty obvious findings.

The American counties that tend to skew oldest are found in places where the weather is pretty mild - Florida, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and California. There are also significant pockets of older Americans in coastal counties in Oregon and Washington, and along the Great Lakes in Northern Michigan.

The median age in these places is 65 and up, more than two-thirds above the average median age in the United States - 37.7 years old.

In South Dakota, about half of the state's 66 counties check in right around the national average, with another 20 or so tracking slightly older - between 45 and 54 years of age.

But it's at the other end of the spectrum where the Mount Rushmore State stands out.

The website Digg is quoting data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Communities Survey, which shows that of the eight youngest counties in the country, where the median age is between 15 and 24 years old, South Dakota is home to three of them - Shannon, Todd, and Clay Counties.

Shannon and Todd Counties are home to some of South Dakota's poorest Native American Tribes, where nearly half of the population is estimated to be under the age of 25.

Clay County's youthful number is impacted by the presence of the number of college students who call the area home while attending the University of South Dakota in Vermillion.